Shipping drum



Aug. 22, 1961 c. FICKER ETAL 2,997,197

SHIPPING DRUM Filed April 25, 1956 l8 l6 l2 /5 l0 I I I I L l /7 1 /a I l [0/ 1 z I I I I I I I4 I I I II I l 1 .l' I I II l i 1' I T r r I I 1 I 1 I8 I I ILL I I I 2 INVENTORS.

CHARLES L. F/C/(ER and WILL/AM I. HANRAHA/V,

their Attorney.

2,997,197 SHIPPING DRUM Charles L. Picker, Greenwich, Conn., and William I. Hanrahan, llronxville, N .Y., assignors to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Apr. 25, 1956, Ser. No. 580,592 1 Claim. (Cl. 220-1) This invention relates to a receptacle and, in particular, to a shipping drum having rolling hoops or rings intermediate its ends.

It is customary, in shipping loaded drums in a truck or railroad car, to stand them on end with their rolling hoops in contact, to pass a length of fiat-band metal strapping about a suitable number of drums and then tension and seal it to hold the group together as a solid unitary mass. The rolling hoops of conventional drums project radially beyond any other portion of the shell or chimes and thus make initial contact when drums standing adjacent each other are pulled together by tensioning of the strapping in tying a plurality of drums in a group. The rolling hoops, furthermore, are usually of rounded trough-shaped section. As a result, when a group of drums in a vehicle is subject to vibration or jostling during transport, the hoops of one drum may ride up on the hoops of adjacent drums because of the clearance normally existing between the chimes and shells of adjacent drums. Such climbing movement causes marring and denting of one drum by the hoops of an adjacent drum. An even more serious problem is that such movement relaxes the tension in the binding strapping so that all drums in the group are freed for limited jostling under vibration and this causes considerable marring and other damage to practically all the drums during a long haul. Likewise, when empty drums are shipped from the manufacturer to the customer, they are shipped on end in a car or truck, and are subject to similiar vibration, jostling and climbing movement and the resulting marring and denting.

We have invented a novel shipping drum which is not subject to the difliculties explained above but is effective to prevent not only marring and denting normally caused by vibration and jostling but also any relaxing of the tension in the binding strapping. According to the invention, we provide a drum having chimes or ends, the peripheral surfaces of which lie in the cylindrical surface containing the peripheries of the rolling hoops. We also prefer to form the rolling hoops with flat, cylindrical treads. Thus, when a group of drums is stood on end and forced together, each drum will abut its neighbors at both the chimes or ends and at the rolling hoops. This eifectively prevents any climbing movement as a result of vibration or jostling, keeps all drums in their original position relative to each other, and in the case of banded drums, maintains the strapping band tight so the whole group of drums constitutes a solid mass throughout the journey, thus eliminating the damage which resulted heretofore from the jostling of one drum by adjacent drums.

The preferred method of accomplishing this result is to gradually expand the upper and lower thirds of the drum forming conical frusta so that the peripheral surfaces of the chimes or ends will lie in the cylindrical surfaces containing the peripheries of the rolling hoops.

States Patent 2,997,197 Patented Aug. 22, 1961 A complete understanding of the invention may be obtained from the following detailed description and explanation which refer to the accompanying drawing illustrating the present preferred embodiment. In the drawing, the single figure is a view partly in section and partly in elevation showing a drum according to our invention and a second similar drum in contact therewith.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, a drum embodying the invention, indicated generally at 10, comprises a shell or body 11 and heads 12. The shell is generally cylindrical. The shell wall expands in conical frusta at the ends, as at 13, and is deformed outwardly at spaced intermediate points, usually two, to form rolling hoops 14. These hoops have cylindrical outer walls or treads.

The heads 12 comprise a circular disc 15 having a tubular portion 16. Intially the heads may also have a peripheral flange 17. The heads may be attached to the expanded ends of the shell by double seaming to form chimes 18, Welding or other conventional methods. By reason of the expanded ends of shell 11, the outside diameter of the chimes is the same as that of hoops 14. Thus the lateral surfaces of the chimes lie in the same cylindrical surface as the peripheries of hoops 14. As a result, whena number of drums standing on end are brought into contact, they engage each other at the chimes and also at the rolling hoops, as indicated by drum 10 shown in FIGURE 1. This, together with the cylindrical shape of the peripheral walls of the hoops, prevents each drum from climbing its neighbors, to the detriment of the finish thereof, or the possibility of more serious damage as a result of loss of the tension in the binding strapping. The cylindrical shape of the hoops has the further advantage that an extended bearing is provided and denting of the tread surface is largely avoided. This result is further aided by the fact that the chimes carry part of the weight of the drum and contents when the drum is rolled.

The invention is applicable to a removable-head drum as well as to the tight-head drum shown in the drawing.

Although we have disclosed herein the preferred embodiment of our invention, we intend to cover as well any change or modification therein which may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

A shipping drum comprising a generally cylindrical unitary shell and circular heads, the edge of each head and one end of the shell being seamed into a chime, and spaced integral rolling hoops displaced outwardly from the shell intermediate the ends thereof, the ends of the shell being expanded to conical frusta from transverse planes located between them and the adjacent hoop, whereby the outside diameters of the chimes and hoops are equal.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 943,686 Kruse Dec. 21, 1909 1,107,854 Sexton Aug. 18, 1914 1,435,384 Fleischer Nov. 14, 1922 1,787,221 Ward Dec. 30, 1930 2,686,610 Sharpnack Aug. 17, 1954 2,700,458 Brown Jan. 25, 1955 

